This was the night we were invited to bring our own wines with no corkage fee. I brought a 2001 Glenora Wine Cellars Sparkling Wine Methode Champenoise Brut to have with the bite of country pate on crostini and arugula salad with citrus dressing (orange and tangerine, slightly sweet)and topped with roasted almonds. Glenora's usual formula for the Brut is slightly more Pinot Noir than Chardonnay in the blend and a dosage of slightly over 1% residual sugar. Yeast and lemon notes. Fine mousse of bubbles. Went well with the pate and the citrus dressing on the salad.

The next two courses were a French version of shepherd's pie made with duck confit and topped with garlic mashed potatoes (Duck Hachis Parmentier) (palate cleanser of Burgundy and rosemary sorbet) and two Maine diver scallops on top a veal cake with sauce Americaine and side of potato and vegetable souffle.

With these two courses I had the waitperson open my 2007 Lioco Michaud Vineyard Pinot Noir. (Chalone AVA, Monterey County, CA.) The vineyard is at an elevation of 1600 feet at the base of an extinct volcano in the Gabilan Mountains (Pinnacles National Monument) with a rare co-loacation of granite and limestone soils. Stressed vines and wines of unusual complexity. Lioco is a new venture of Matt Licklider (wine importer and Kevin O'Connor, former sommelier at Spago, LA.

Lioco Michaud Vineyard P.N. 311 cases. Over 14% alcohol by volume. Ph balance of 3.42. Brix of 23.8 degrees. Residual sugar of .10 gram per liter. Total acidity of 6.6 grams per liter. Hand harvested. Used a wild yeast. Aged for ten months in one- two- and three-year old barrels. Bottled without fining or filtration.
Lovely cerise color. Pretty nose; even prettier flavor of rich cherries, possibly some clove or cinnamon but predominantly luscious raspberry and cherry essence with a silky texture. Not candied but fruity. IWC score of 91--I would up that to 93 or 94. The most lovely Pinot Noir I've had in some time. I shared it with several others at my table who also were impressed. They offered me some '95 Lynch Bages which I passed up but I did taste some of their Casisano Colombaia Brunello di Montalcino which was quite nice.

One of the diners at my table had won the Pinehurst North-South amateur golf championship in 1995 and 1996 and the North-South Senior Championship in a playoff in 2009 and the British Senior Amateur in 2006 and 2008.

Getting back to the dinner--our dessert was Croque en Bouche, three small cream puffs with pastry cream and a sticky caramel sauce. (A bit too sticky--hard to get off our teeth.)

Another fun evening at Saint Jacques. I stayed overnight at a Comfort Suites so I didn't have the drive back to Fayetteville.